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The Mint is planning on producing more coins than last year

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused historically unprecedented nationwide shortages of essential goods including currency, coins to be more precise. From the Mint to the market, everyone is exploring creative solutions to tackle this coin shortage issue.

The COVID-19 pandemic closed the U.S. Mint briefly and stopped the production of currency. Another issue with the coin shortage is that more people are spending time at home with coins and are not being circulated on a frequent basis.

A majority of coins in circulation are being held by the general public, third-party coin processors, and stores with only 17 percent of the nation’s coins come from the Mint. Another issue is that people are using cards to pay because they think that handling money will spread unwanted germs.

The U.S. Mint has reopened but is operating at a reduced capacity to keep workers safe, this is helping to slowly solve the issue. The federal government is taking notice of this issue and setting up a new task force to get coins back into circulation.

Last year the Mint produced approximately 1 billion coins a month and since mid-June, it’s operating at full production to produce 1.65 billion coins a month. Until the coin supply stabilizes, companies are coming up with unprecedented coin shortage solutions.

Some businesses are only accepting exact change, debit cards, or credit cards because they cannot provide change but some are asking customers to help with incentives for customers with coins.

One Taco Bell location in California offered a free taco to customers who presented a roll of coins to exchange for bills. A Chick-fil-A location in Virginia also offered a free entree for customers who brought a $10 roll of coins to exchange for a $10 bill.